It started because I got a 3rd party Apple Pencil and wanted to sketch out a Terraform diagram. That’s it. Just a quick scratch pad to draw some boxes and arrows. So I opened one of the usual whiteboard apps and immediately got hit with templates, toolbars, account prompts, and a feature tour I didn’t ask for.

The next one? “Sign in with Google/Microsoft/Facebook/FriendFace/SignInHappy”
The next one? “Buy this toolset! Subscribe for x dollars a month!”

I just wanted to draw something.

I went and looked at the basics. Notes was ok, but still more notepad than blank canvas. 
Freeform was actually alright, but the infinite canvas is too much. too easy to lose what you’re looking at. And where does the Board even live? I have no idea.

So I built PlainBoard. A PencilKit canvas, a document model, a save button the OS handles for me. The whole thing came together faster than I expected — turns out when your feature list is “draw on it,” you ship pretty quick.

Then came the fun part: App Store submission. Screenshots in the wrong resolution, a leftover com.example UTType from a project template, iPhone screenshot requirements for an iPad-only app, and the joy of learning that App Store Connect has opinions about everything. What took an afternoon to build took another afternoon to submit.

But it’s in. PlainBoard 1.0 is sitting in review right now — a free, no-account, no-clutter scratch pad. No features you don’t need. Just a plain board. Draw on it.

That’s the kind of software we want to make at BakBeat Labs. Truthful software. It does what it says, nothing more.